Breaking News

Columnists

Equal, fair and farce

When NBC affiliates in Tennessee showed the movie “Necessary Roughness” in 1994, those affiliates were required to give a Democrat Senate candidate 4 minutes and 13 seconds of free airtime. The Democrat was running against Fred Thompson, the actor turned Republican Senate candidate. When Thompson ran for President in 2008, NBC stopped aired re-runs of “Law & Order” that featured Thompson, who had been the District Attorney on the show. The Equal Time Doctrine is not new. But the national press corps, always ready to pounce on President Donald Trump and Republicans, has suddenly ...

What would MLK say today?

February is Black History Month and Martin Luther King has been on my mind during this long, cold winter.  I have been thinking about nonviolent Civil Rights activities in the last century. MLK helped this nation to face the fact that our people of color, poor people, and women were living with injustices daily. Civil Rights were essential to define the truly American Century. King encouraged Americans to make legal and social changes that have helped more people to live the “American Dream.”  I have been wondering what MLK would say about events happening now in our nation ...

Saga of MAGA

During Donald Trump’s stormy career, he built or seemed to construct a movement which he called Make America Great Again. However, this was Ronald Reagan’s 1980 slogan and not a Trumpian original. In 2016, it was a slogan; by 2024, it became a movement with a legion of influencers masquerading as political philosophers. Consequently, MAGA remains a “concept” rather than a definable movement. And it gets even murkier in the new age of Jeffrey Epstein. Stephen Bannon, once hailed as the chief spokesman for MAGA, has seen his reputation taken down a notch because of his ...

Why the best never stop getting better

How do the best become the best? Achieving and maintaining elite performance is extremely difficult. There will be setbacks along the way. Yet the best are always looking for ways to improve their performance. An example of this truth was evident in a call I had with some leaders from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. I will be meeting with groups there in late April to work with them on how to provide a great patient and family experience. With all pre-calls, I do research into the organization. In healthcare, there is a lot of publicly reported data. It was no ...

All downhill from here

Last Thursday marked day 30, the halfway mark of the 60-day annual legislative session. It’s all downhill from now to midnight on Saturday, March 14, when the regular session adjourns sine die. At the beginning of the session, I had a hard time predicting whether this session would be a flurry of action or be slow, but it appears slow and steady wins the race. That’s not terribly surprising given that this is a midterm election year. Lawmakers want to do enough to look like they’re doing something, while also not doing things to avoid rocking the boat. The House of Delegates ...

Shrill and strident

Pam Bondi’s performance before the Judiciary Committee made a compelling case for her removal as Attorney General. Her tone was shrill, and her style resembled that of a gangster’s moll at an interrogation rather than that of the highest legal officer of the United States. Perhaps she is rehearsing for a melodrama; if Donald Trump thinks he is being well served, he is mistaken. What was more, Bondi’s testimony was bedeviling because she not only violated rules and decorum but also appeared silly. Jamie Raskin apparently got under her skin by pointing out the rules of the House of ...